The Day Before Tomorrow
by Idunnowhy
Summary: Carlos confronts some hard truths about his relationship with Keira, as she realizes that she's never going home. Set some time after the end of season three.
1. You think YOU had a bad day

**Author's Note: I know Carlos and Keira aren't a likely pairing in the show any time soon, but with the way he's been falling to pieces this past season I just can't help it :) I think it could totally happen, especially with the way this new timeline is spooling out. I haven't seen the last 3 episodes of season three yet, aside from reading their summaries, so I'm being deliberately vague on the details. This is probably going to be a short fic (I have to finish Hell's Bells SOME TIME before death!) but it's been chewing at the back of my head for a few weeks now. Seemed like a good excuse to take a break from pharmacology to take a stroll down fantasy lane! **

**One more thing. Please, please, please, feel free to stop by and leave me a review, those are the kinds of things that keep me writing! Sadly, Keira and the rest of the cast of Continuum aren't mine. **

_He was nothing. Nobody. Some man from a hospital that came out of nowhere and had Cameron dancing to his tune. _

_Living in her apartment. Eating her food. Watching her television. Sleeping in her…_

_Don't go there, Fonnegra. _

Scrubbing his eyeballs, Carlos forced his attention back to the case file in front of him. Another day, another dead body. A teenager that died of an overdose of what looked an awful lot like Flash-or so Keira said.

Damn it. Slamming the folder shut, he shoved away from his desk and grabbed his jacket. He needed some air. A drink. A dozen. Anything to wipe the memory of his dead partner's face from his mind.

Anything to make him forget about his new partner that seemed to be anything but.

Slamming his hand on the elevator button, Carlos deliberately ignored the worried glances being thrown his way. He'd be the first to admit that the last couple of weeks, he hadn't been himself. Hell, who would be? After weeks of walking around with a woman who wore his partner's face and his partner's clothes and had his partner's memories but wasn't his partner, and yet was, in all the ways that mattered…hell, that would screw with anybody's head.

And hey, he was nobody special, right? He thought wryly, stepping into the elevator and pushing the button down. Just a 21st century cop. Not a time traveler. Not a genius. Not a millionaire or a CEO or any other red carpet persona that his partner seemed to be spending her time with these days. Hell, in Cameron's world, he was more of a nobody than the nobody she was living with these days.

A nobody that, he was forced to admit, was something to Cameron that he'd never be. He was a part of Cameron's future/past life, the life she'd had before she came here. Another timeline, sure, but still a link to the future she was hoping for.

The life she'd give anything, risk anything to go back to.

Slipping his sunglasses on, Carlos started walking. Didn't matter where. Someplace where he might be able to string together more than two thoughts in his head that didn't center around Keira Cameron.

Slumping back against the building, Keira let her shoulders fall. Brave words. Brave promises. Empty threats. Seemed like that's all she was living on these days. She'd sold her soul to the devil when she signed on the dotted line with the freelancers, and the farther down that rabbit hole she fell the more she realized that like Alice, she was a very, very long way from home.

Unlike Alice, it was highly unlikely someone was going to come along, shake her shoulder and wake her up.

Blinking back tears, Keira forced herself to admit what she'd fought against for the last three years. She wasn't going home. It didn't matter what happened now, the life she'd been clinging on to was gone. Sam was gone. There was nothing for her now. Nothing to hang on to.

"There's no one to hang on for," she whispered, the words jerking a sob out of her. Then another. Then another. Before she knew it, she was crouched on her heels, shoulders pressed against the building, head down, crying deep, gut wrenching sobs for her baby, her husband, her _life._ Reaching up to her collar, she moved to press the switch that would make her invisible, give her space to grieve without all those eyes on her, give her time to weep for the people she loved. The people she'd _lost._

Before her fingers could close on the button that would finally bring her peace, a warm hand wrapped around hers.

"Keira? Keira, what's going on?"

He hadn't realized he'd run into her. He supposed he should have-after all, she'd come across sixty five years and another timeline to be here, with him, what on earth would make him think a couple of blocks were going to do it? He'd heard the sound of someone crying in the alley, and he'd told himself that it was his cop's instinct that made him go and check it out.

He was getting really good at lying to himself these days. Even before he'd turned the corner he'd known what he'd find. After three years of working with her, there were times it seemed like they breathed together-or at least it had, before everything had gone straight to hell. He tried to tell himself that it was different now, but when he saw her curled up against the wall, tears he'd rarely seen her shed rolling down her cheeks while she sobbed like her heart would break, trying to curl in on herself and make herself invisible-literally-he didn't think, just reacted.

In that moment it didn't matter which version of herself she was, or who she had been, or what she'd done, or how different she was from the vulnerable woman he'd known. She was his partner, and she was in pain.

"Keira?" Reaching out, he caught her hand before she could flip the switch on that super suit of hers and put more distance between them. "Keira, what's going on?"

Half expecting her to pull back, as she had so many times in the past few weeks, he was surprised when she threw her arms around his neck and pressed her face into his chest, clinging to him while she sobbed out weeks of pent up pain and frustration.


	2. Shifting Seas

The tears ripped out of her for what felt like forever. Couldn't stop. Wouldn't stop. Keira cried until her throat burned and her stomach hurt and Carlos's coat was covered in tears and other, less graceful bodily fluids. She choked back a laugh when he pulled a small pack of tissues out of his pocket and tried to push away, tried to put some space between them so she could get herself back together. He just pulled her closer, tucking her head under his chin and rocking her like a child while he used his broad shoulders to shield her from the people she could barely hear walking down the sidewalk.

Finally, when she had no more tears to cry, when her eyes were heavy with exhaustion and her breath came out in trembling gasps and hiccups but no more sobs, he let her pull away just far enough to see her face. Taking one of the tissues from the pack she was clutching like a lifeline, he wiped her cheeks dry before wrapping her back up in his arms.

"What happened?" he whispered softly into her hair, and Keira almost started crying all over again. Carlos was so warm and solid under her hands while the rest of her world bucked and twisted beneath her, and in that moment it was too easy to forget that he despised her, push aside the fact that he distrusted her, and let him anchor her to this time and place the way he had so many times before.

She opened her mouth-to say what, she didn't know-but couldn't make the words come out. Somehow Carlos understood anyway, somehow instinctively knew what she needed as he squeezed, then pulled both of them to their feet, tucking her protectively under his shoulder and heading toward the station.

Carlos sighed, doing his best to keep the woman under his arm snugged firmly against his side while they wove through the uncharacteristically light crowd on the sidewalks. She felt so tiny. She was fire and ice, and so fierce it was easy for him to forget that she wasn't much bigger than Betty. She felt…

Well hell. Women's lib be damned, she felt like someone he should be taking care of. Because she was a woman. Because she was his partner. Because despite the darkness in her eyes and her new, cynical outlook on life, despite all the secrets he knew this Keira kept that his Keira didn't, she was still Keira.

That still meant something to him, whether he wanted it to or not.

When they got back to the station he didn't even ask, just led her over to his car and helped her into the passenger seat. She still hadn't said a word. If it was his Keira he'd be worried. Since the day he'd saved her life and she'd told him who she really was, they hadn't had a problem communicating.

This Keira was another story. Sometimes it seemed like she was a million miles away, even when she was standing right in front of him, and he was getting used to her silences even as the part of him that recognized his partner in her banged against them in frustration. It made her strange and unfamiliar and just a little mysterious.

He thought about taking her home. Back to her new apartment and the John Doe she was spending more time with than she was him these days. Just drop her off and drive away and let someone else deal with it so he didn't have to get all tangled up with this Keira the way he had…

'_Doesn't matter now bucko.'_

Slipping his key into the ignition, he took at a look at his partner. She'd curled herself into a small ball and leaned her head against the window. Her hair was falling over her face, shielding her from view, and without thinking about it he reached out to pull the damp strands out of her eyes. She was sound asleep, completely worn out from the storm that had raged through her as she'd leaned on his shoulder, crying like her heart would break.

Watching her sleep, Carlos felt something in his chest that he had kept locked and frozen since he first saw his partner's dead body shift. As soon as it did, he couldn't stand the thought of taking her back to her place, and the man that might be waiting there. Without examining the impulse too closely, Carlos turned the key, shifted into drive, and made the turn that led them toward his place.


	3. Cocoa

_**A/N: Thanks for reading everyone! Someone mentioned it was a little too hard to follow along with Keira and Carlos's shifting viewpoints. Hopefully this makes it a little easier! **_

**Carlos**

'_So long partner. I'm glad you're still here." _

_He'd sounded like a moron, knew it the minute the words were out of his mouth, but what was he supposed to say? It's been fun? Nice working with you? Hey, by the way, I might have loved you, but now you're gone and we'll never know and your double is you but darker and stranger and so like you but not, and I don't know how I feel about that yet? _

_Maybe he could have said it to her, if they'd been alone. He could have told her anything, except the one thing he didn't until it was too late. But he couldn't say it in front of Sadler-no sense giving the little shit ammunition he really didn't need. And there was no saying it in front of Dark Keira, as he was coming to think of her. He was still too tangled up for that. So he kept the words inside, and watched as she drifted off into the ether, leaving him behind. _

**Keira**

Keira moaned, opening her eyes to the familiar-yet-unfamiliar sounds of a man rummaging around outside the door of the room. What time was it? Rolling to her side, she came face to face with a smiley face alarm clock that managed to be both familiar and unfamiliar at the same time. Tipping her head back, she looked around the room. Carlos's guest room. She'd crashed there, a few times, when the night had gotten late and she hadn't been able to bear the thought of being alone.

There was a time when this wouldn't have felt strange to her at all-but that time wasn't this one, was it? she thought dryly. And that Carlos, the Carlos that had made them margaritas and watched bad movies and fallen asleep on the couch with his arm around her certainly wasn't this stranger with suspicion in his eyes where warm, casual affection used to be.

Maybe showing him _her _dead body had been a mistake, but she couldn't think of anything else to do-and to be honest, she hadn't really tried. She'd done what she always did. She'd run to her partner, her friend, instinctively trusting him to help without taking a moment to consider what seeing _her _would do. The idea that Carlos would be emotionally invested in her death-she wasn't sure what she thought about that yet. All she knew was that she wanted her friend back.

Groaning, she laid her aching head back on the pillow and breathed in the scent of his laundry detergent as the rest of the day came rushing back to her. The anger when she walked away from the Freelancers. The great, soul-sucking maelstrom of grief as she admitted to herself for the first time what she'd known from the day she landed in 2012. She wasn't going home. No one was going to save her. She was never going to see Greg or Sam again.

The pain stabbed deep, and she curled into the pillow, tears streaming down her cheeks and sobs jerking from her chest as she admitted another truth, one that hadn't occurred to her before now in her blind determination to find her way back to the family she'd left behind. Because of her actions in this timeline, she'd lost the small family she had here as well. Alec, her Alec, who she'd given to the freelancers. This Alec, who knew she'd lied to him and hated her for it. Carlos, who held her at arm's length while he held a special place in his heart for the woman she'd replaced.

She'd lost everything, and had nothing to show for it…not even the knowledge that she'd made the future a better place for the people she'd left behind.

**Carlos**

He'd heard her, the moment she woke up. Heard the deep, gaping sobs that echoed from the walls of his non-descript apartment. Pushing himself off the couch and away from the show he hadn't really been watching anyway, he walked over to the kitchen and took two mugs out of the cupboard. Reaching into the pantry, he pulled out the container of cocoa he wasn't crazy about but she had loved. He'd bought a box of it when they were in the middle of some case or another, and had kept buying it as she'd kept coming over. He hadn't even thought about it at the time-just one more thing on his shopping list.

Now he wondered if he'd known, even then, that there was something more than that.

Sighing, he tossed in the milk and put the two mugs in the microwave, weighing his options. Did he go to her? Wait for her to come to him? Call out that there was cocoa in the kitchen and go back to what he was doing like he really didn't care anyway, which was basically the attitude he'd been cultivating since this version of her had showed up?

She took the decision out of his hands when she came puttering into the kitchen, sniffling and swiping at her eyes while carefully not meeting his. That shifting part of his heart melted a little further, and without thinking too much about it he passed her the tissue box on the counter.

"Cocoa's coming. You look like shit."


	4. Feels Like You're Gone

**Keira**

Keira snorted a little, thinking he was probably right. At the moment though, she just didn't have it in her to care. "Gee, thanks," she said dryly, reaching out and plucking the tissues from the box he held out, then coming to stand next to him and breathe in the thick chocolate on the air.

She recognized the smell instantly, and the amount of gratitude welling up inside of her when he pulled the mugs out of the microwave was almost pathetic. It was a favorite of hers, one of the few things from this time that she truly enjoyed-a novelty, really, after a lifetime of MREs and dehydrated, genetically engineered goods. The chocolate was rich and creamy, and left a pleasant coating on the top of her tongue.

Carlos-her Carlos-had always said it tasted like it came out of a third grader's lunch box, but she'd noticed he'd always had some on his shelf when she came over. Its presence here felt like an unexpected gift. How far she'd come, when she could carry so much sentiment for something so small.

"I thought you didn't like that stuff."

**Carlos**

"Yeah, well." Carlos shrugged his shoulders, as uncomfortable with the damp gratitude shining in her eyes as he was with the quick bolt of happiness he felt when she gave a soft sigh of pleasure after grabbing her cup and taking a sip. "It was easier to stick some on the shelf than to try and find a convenience store that carried it in the middle of the night."

She smiled, like he knew she would, remembering the way they'd run down the street in the dark and the rain. She'd laughed like a child, the shadows temporarily gone from her eyes as she went from one shop to another, ignoring his grumbling that they should have brought the car. It was one of the first times he'd seen her face light up like that, careless and carefree, with her hair laying in damp strings around her face, and even knowing it was going to ruin his leather jacket he'd willingly gone along-would have, he realized now, followed her almost anywhere if it would keep her smiling like that.

Looking at the woman next to him, seeming soft and vulnerable in a way he'd never seen this Keira look but he remembered so well from the partner he'd lost, soaking up the heat from the cup she'd wrapped her hands around, Carlos had to bite his lip to keep himself from saying something stupid. He couldn't resist the urge to reach out an arm and wrap it around her waist, pulling her close and tucking her head under his chin. She fit, the way she always had, and he felt muscles he hadn't even realized he'd tensed relax when she leaned against him with a sigh.

"Want to tell me what's going on?" he asked, holding his breath as he waited to see if she was going to pull away, pull back into herself the way she had a hundred times in the past few weeks whenever things got personal. He was absurdly relieved when she shrugged, straightening a bit but not putting any more distance between them.

"It's all gone," she said softly, tipping her head to look up at him. "Sam. Greg. The future. Home. At least the home I knew. Alec. Betty. The friends I thought I had, here." Hesitating, eyes searching his face, she admitted softly, so softly he could barely hear her, "You."


	5. Why am I here when everything is gone?

**Keira**

Keira wanted to bite her tongue off almost as soon as the words left her mouth. It felt stupid, to be complaining about her partner-her friend-being gone when she was standing in his house, wrapped in his arms and drinking his cocoa. Considering everything she'd done, and everything she'd put him through, to have even this much felt like so much more than she deserved.

But she was tired. So tired. Tired of fighting and losing over, and over, and over again. Tired of living every day with the distance between her and the people she cared about. Tired of walking on glass when she was with Carlos, the first friend she'd really had in this time. Tired of pushing her heart and soul to the limit with nothing to show for it.

She was tired, so very, very tired, of being alone. Leaning over, she pressed her head into Carlos's chest, smiling when he reached for her cup and set it down next to his on the counter. Squeezing tightly and wrapping her other arm around his hips when he pulled her tight against his chest and ran a hand up and down her back.

"I'm right here," he said softly, giving her a light shake when she shook her head. "I am. I always have been. You're the one that's different." Keira expected him to stop there-she knew it was her fault. She was surprised when he kept talking. "It's not just that you're a different you, you're a totally different person. Every time someone tries to get close to you, you pull away. It's like you didn't just go back in time to this time, you went all the way back. Slamming doors, keeping secrets. Damn it Keira, I thought we were past that."

She winced at the angry frustration in his voice. "I'm sorry," she said dully. She knew it was inadequate, but it was the best she could do. "I shouldn't have dragged you into my mess. I realize that now. I only wish I would have realized it before it was too late."

"And what, let me think you were-she was-just dead?" Carlos pulled back so he was holding her elbows, his eyes suddenly angry. "Never let me know that you were here? Just hide in the shadows and do your own thing without anyone else getting in the way. Or better yet, maybe you wish you'd never even bothered being my partner in the first place. Is that what you want? Fine." He pushed her away, walking past her back to the living room and flopping on the couch. "You know the way out," he said, not even bothering to turn his head. "Keys are on the counter. I'll hitch a ride to the station in the morning."

**Carlos**

He was being an ass. He knew it, he just couldn't seem to stop himself. After the hell she'd put him through the last few weeks, having her look him in the eye and tell him it was all a mistake was more than he could deal with. If she wanted to go all Lone Ranger, that was fine with him. He'd gotten by without her before, he could do it again.

Keira Cameron could go home, go to her own time, go straight to hell for all he cared.

He heard her step into the living room, felt the other end of the couch give under her weight.

"That's not what I meant," she said softly. He tried to ignore the pain in her voice. "It just…seems like all of this would have been easier for you that way." When he didn't answer her, she reached out and squeezed his arm. "Carlos, I've made a lot of mistakes since coming back to 2012, but being your partner-your friend-was never one of them. You and Alec are the closest things to family that I have here, and now I've messed it all up."

Keira's voice was thick with tears and starting to shake, but she forged on. "I'm never going home, Carlos. My future doesn't even exist anymore, Alec made sure of that. And if I'm not fighting to get home, and I've managed to destroy my relationship with the people that I care about here, then what's the point in me being here at all?"


	6. There It Is

**A/N: Thank you SO MUCH to everyone who's out there reading this! I haven't been able to write as much as I would like between school and kids, and I have another fic going I really need to finish before I die, so this one's been slow coming along. I haven't given up on it though! This chapter's for kitcat, who kindly reminded me I needed to get a move on! I hope you have a GREAT time at Dragoncon!**

**Keira**

There it was. Everything she thought, everything she feared. It was terrifying to say it out loud. It made it real somehow, saying it to someone else.

"I have to wonder if I made the right choice, Carlos," she said softly, pulling her hand back in and almost weeping when he reached out and pulled her up against him. "Did I do the right thing coming here, or did I just make everything worse? Maybe it would have been better for everyone if I'd just died in the other timeline. Then maybe none of this would have happened."

Carlos was silent, staring ahead, the muscles in his jaw shifting as he clenched his teeth and carefully avoided looking at her. She might have thought he was angry, but the arm he'd wrapped around her shoulders was warm and reassuring, and it squeezed tightly to hold her in place when she moved to get up.

"I think," he said slowly, turning to face her, "that maybe there doesn't have to be a reason. Maybe it's just enough that you're here." Shifting so he was sitting sideways on the couch, facing her, he pulled his arm back and scrubbed his hand over his face. He didn't look angry, or withdrawn, or shielded, the way he had for months. He just looked tired.

"I know it's hard, but maybe it's time to start letting go of the future you thought you were waiting for and learn how to live in the now." His mouth quirked wryly, and he reached up to tug her hair. "It's not all bad you know. Some of it's pretty gosh darned awesome when you give it a try."

Let go of the past. Let go of Greg and Sam. Let go of any hope of going home, of picking up her LIFE. Only, it wasn't her life anymore, was it? This was her life. This time, this place, this people.

"I suppose," she said slowly, leaning her head back against the couch in exhaustion, "that I should probably learn to make the most of it."

**Carlos**

Looking at the woman slumped back against the back of the couch, her eyes dark with pain and fatigue, her body drooping, Carlos…wanted to hurt somebody. Because this Keira, this broken shell trying to pick up all the pieces…this wasn't what he wanted. What he wanted most was for her to be happy.

_Liar,_ a little voice in his head whispered. _What you want is for her to be happy with you._

There it was, he realized as he reached out to pull Keira against him, closing his eyes at the softness of her hair under her chin and the warmth of her body against his. That's what he'd been fighting against so hard from the very beginning. Somewhere along the way, he'd fallen in love with his partner, had started to hope as time passed that she would stop obsessing about going back to the future she'd left and be willing to explore the possibility that maybe, just maybe, there was something here worth staying for.

Well, he had his wish. Keira was here, and she wasn't going anywhere. The question was, what was he going to do about it? Was he going to continue pulling back, pushing her away, or was he going to accept that this was his partner? Even if she was a slightly different version of herself, she was still the woman he loved…and she'd been through hell.

It was going to be a long road for both of them.

"You don't have to figure out the rest of your life right now," he murmured, squeezing her a little tighter, shaken to the core by what he had just discovered about himself. "It'll look brighter in the morning."

"I hope so," she said with a sigh, fatigue already starting to drag at her voice.

"How long has it been since you had a decent night's sleep?" he asked, running a hand up and down her back.

"I don't even remember," she admitted.

"C'mon." He gently extricated himself, standing up and reaching down to pull her up after him. "Stay here tonight, get some sleep. Tomorrow's going to be here soon enough."

"Thank you Carlos." Stretching up, she hesitated for a moment, then gently kissed his cheek. "Thank you for everything." Turning, she started walking toward the guest room…then sighed, turned back around. "I feel ridiculous for asking, but…can I sleep on the couch tonight? It's too quiet in there. Too much room to think."

Her eyes were at half-mast now, and she looked like she was about to fall over. He hesitated, thinking about her sleeping alone on his sofa, then dismissed the idea. Before he could talk himself out of it he'd walked over and swung her up in his arms.

"I have a better idea."


	7. A Good Night's Sleep?

**Keira**

She wasn't sure if it was the birds or the light streaming through the window that woke her up. All she knew was that something was different. Ever since she'd joined the military, she'd woken up like she was on a mission-immediately. Completely aware of her surroundings. Ready for action.

It was, she was beginning to realize, completely exhausting. It was also what made this morning different. This morning she came awake slowly, drifting somewhere between sleep and wakefulness. The sun was warm on her face, and the pillow beneath her head was soft and smelled comfortingly like Carlos.

Carlos.

Remembering, she blinked open her eyes and smiled at her partner, who was laying half on, half off his side, snoring softly. One arm was wrapped around his pillow, the other lightly rested on her hand laying on the blanket between them.

She'd been surprised when he carried her into his room, setting her on the edge of the bed and tucking her in like a child before slipping out of the room to shut everything off. She knew she should probably protest, especially when he walked back into the room in his pajama pants and turned off the light. But all he'd done was slip into bed wish her good night, and, half asleep, she'd wrapped herself in the feeling of being taken care of for the first time in a very, very long time.

Of course the nightmares came. They came every night, tormenting her with visions of Greg and Sam and her friends on the force burning, trapped beneath the crumbling buildings of a crumbling timeline until there was nothing left. She saw Alec, staring sightlessly through a cage while the edges burned and the other Alex-this Alex-stood by and watched.

Very visible signs of her failure to preserve her timeline. Victims of her own incompetence.

She'd woken screaming, trembling and sweating while her mind clawed its way back to the awareness. Only this time, she hadn't woken alone. Almost immediately Carlos had wrapped her in his arms, pulling her against his chest and whispering reassurances.

He'd been the one to bring her a cold cloth for her sweaty face, and to turn on the bedside lamp to chase the night's horrors away. Then he'd held her while she cried, and told him everything-everything about the freelancers, and the devil's bargain she'd made to get here. The impossible job they'd given her.

How she'd failed them all.

He hadn't given her false platitudes, just offered her the comfort of his presence while she relived the horrors she'd seen since Alec-her Alec-had stolen the device and created the timeline they were living in. Then, when she was finally spent, he'd held her while sleep swept over her and dragged her under.

It was the best night's sleep she'd had in months…years, if she was being honest with herself. And she owed it all to the man sleeping next to her. Smiling, she slipped quietly out of bed to start the coffee.

**Carlos**

He'd known the moment she'd slipped out of bed, had had a brief inner struggle with himself while he decided whether to let her go or pull her back in. He wasn't sure, in the bright morning light, how she was going to feel about spending the night with him, or the darkness in her soul she'd spilled to him the night before, and in the end decided to give her a little bit of space.

He hadn't been ready for the nightmares. He supposed he should have been-she'd been walking around looking like an exhausted zombie for weeks. Her screams had ripped him from sleep, had him reaching automatically for his gun before he realized they were the only two in the room. Instead, he'd reached for her, hoping that just this once she would lean on him, just a little.

He got more than he'd bargained for. He knew his partner had been dragged through hell since being pulled out of her timeline, but he'd been gutted by the horrors she'd shared the night before. Keeping secrets, hell. After everything she'd been through, it was a wonder she was still sane.

But, she had leaned on him. He reminded himself of that as he slid out of bed, automatically pulling the covers up over the pillows-and pausing, for just a second, to appreciate the unfamiliar scent of her shampoo mixing with his own. No matter that he'd all but bullied her into it. Weeping and vulnerable, she'd bared her soul to him the night before, tearing down the walls that she'd built sky high since she'd returned.

He wasn't quite sure what to do with that yet, but something about it felt right. Like he finally had his partner back. It was a start.

He debated grabbing and shower and changing into some jeans, then chucked the idea. It was Tuesday, and they both had the day off. There was no need to rush.

Peeking around the corner, he smiled. It was nice, to have her puttering around his kitchen like she belonged there, and whatever she was making smelled amazing. A far cry from the coffee and toast he usually grabbed in the morning.

Maybe he could convince her to stay, just a little longer. He knew soon he was going to have to get dressed and take her back to the precinct, so she could pick up her car and go back to her apartment-and the man that was waiting there for her. After the night before, he just wasn't ready to do it yet.

The stab of jealousy was a familiar ache, one he'd gotten used to since Keira had announced she was going to be taking What's His Face home with her. He couldn't help but wonder how many times this stranger had held her when she woke screaming in the night, and the mental picture had him seeing red. Ridiculous, to feel this possessive of a woman who had pushed him away over and over again…but then again, he'd never felt this way about a woman before.

At that moment she turned from the stove and beamed at him, and his heart flipped over. She was comfortable, and more casual and relaxed than he'd ever seen her, wearing an old VPD t-shirt and a pair of boxers he'd found for her the night before. In that moment, smiling at him without shadows in her eyes, dressed in his clothes and making breakfast in his kitchen, he felt himself taking that last fall and tumbling head over heels into love with his partner.

Giving into temptation, he walked over, looped a casual arm around her and planted a kiss on the top of her head before forcing himself to let go and grab a cup of coffee. She wasn't his yet, he reminded himself grimly. No matter how pleasant starting the morning with her in his arms was, it was still a long way from being any more than a one-shot thing. Keira had just started considering the possibility of building a home, and a life, here in this time. They had just begun building back up the trust between them. He was going to have to give her some time before he stepped up to ask how she felt about taking that next step with him.


	8. Unexpected Guests

**Well, I did it to myself. I saw the end of the season. Then I sat and struggled with the rest of this story, because the whole thing with Brad and the cabin tossed a serious kink in the way I saw things happening between Keira and Carlos in this maybe universe I dreamed up. I debated writing the rest of this and pretending that nothing actually happened between her and Brad, or her and Alec. Then I realized that my muse just wasn't going to have it, and I was going to have to grab the ball and run with it. So if this feels a little bit awkward, bear with me. I'm still putting the pieces together myself. **

**Picking up after the scene in the park in Season 3, where Brad's unit comes through to this timeline. **

**Keira**

"What the hell is going on?" Her side burned with every breath, her wrist was bruised and sore where Brad had grabbed her and dragged her into the shadows, and she had no idea what the hell was going on. She supposed she really should have been scared, but the truth was, she was just pissed off.

One little bit of normalcy. That's all she'd wanted. Now that she'd accepted that she was going to be staying in this time, she wanted a shot at a normal life. Maybe even, god help her, a normal relationship. She hadn't expected things with Brad to happen the way that they had, but she kind of liked where it was going.

Oh, she knew a big part of his appeal was that he was just like her-a displaced time traveler that had told his family goodbye in an attempt to make a better future for them. That he'd done it willingly while she'd been ripped away didn't matter. They were both broken, both struggling to keep their head above water surrounded by people they didn't know in a time they didn't understand.

She'd thought maybe, when they were sitting on the porch of the cabin, that maybe they'd be able to find something together. The closest thing to peace that two people like them could have. Only now there was someone out there from Brad's past-their potential future-that apparently wanted to take that away.

God, she couldn't buy a break.

"They're droids," Brad said grimly. "Pre-programmed for a specific purpose, designed to cut down anything and anyone that's in their way. Ground troops will be behind them."

"What are they here for?"

"I don't know." He turned to look at her, his face dark and shadowed in the moonlight. "But if I had to guess, I'd say they're here to kill Matthew Kellogg."

Of course they were. She still hadn't wrapped her head around the idea that Matthew Kellogg was the man behind the inevitable destruction of their future-but then, she knew it wasn't Alec. Her Alec had stepped into the shoes of the other Alec, taking his rightful place at the head of Piron, and he had promised to make it his mission to make sure that the future was free of the nightmares that haunted her.

Looked like that hadn't happened. Damn Kellogg. What had he done?

"What do we do?"

"Our best bet is to stay out of sight until the ground troops arrive, then make contact. Hopefully they recognize me. I assume, since I'm the one they gave the device to, that my unit will be the one to respond if I send a signal back-but Keira, there are no guarantees." He wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her close and planting a quick kiss on her lips. "If they don't know me, they might shoot me on sight."

"Great." Damn it. "Don't you have a plan that doesn't end in you being shot?"

"People aren't going to miss this Keira, which means someone's going to be on the phone to the police soon enough. I need to make contact quick and fill them in on what's going so they can call the droids back and regroup, or your friends are going to be caught right in the middle of it. And trust me Keira, that is NOT a good place for them to be."

**Carlos**

Fan-freaking-tastic. Frustrated, Carlos threw his pen down on his desk and leaned back in his chair. His eyes were burning, his head was pounding, and he hadn't actually written a word in his report in over an hour. He debated going home, but dismissed that idea almost as fast as it came. He could go out, but he didn't think he could deal with people tonight-and the last thing he wanted to do was slip back into the rabbit hole of drink and depression that he'd slid into when Keira was shot.

Of course, even that would be better than what he was feeling right now. At least back then he'd been able to pretend the woman working beside him day in and day out wasn't _his _Keira. She'd still be holding him at arm's length, and he wasn't the keeper of her secrets. He didn't know how much was hiding behind those walls of hers. He didn't know how it felt to be the one to hold her when she woke in the night, or how _much_ he would feel waking up with her the next morning.

He didn't know that he loved her yet, and because he didn't know that he loved her he didn't know how much it would hurt to have her turn to someone else.

He hadn't believed it, not really. She was _his_ partner. It had taken so long for him to pull down the walls between them, both when she'd first arrived and after she'd been shot. That intimacy had been hard won, the end result of tears and blood and anger and sacrifice for both of them. It was inconceivable to him that less than two weeks after the night they'd spent together, she'd open up to someone else.

And wasn't that the kicker? he thought dryly, shoving away from his desk and walking back toward the break room. After everything he had been through, all of the hoops he'd jumped through, this man, this soldier from the future, just waltzes into the picture and walks away with the only thing Carlos wanted.

A chance with Keira.

He should have known. Things between he and Keira had been different after that night at his house. She'd opened up more, drawing him into her plans, telling him more about what was going on in her life. When she'd told him her crazy plan to kidnap Alex he'd gone along with it-not because he thought it was a good idea, but because she did, and he was willing to trust her. He figured getting everything with Alec straightened out was the first step toward helping her rebuild what she thought she'd lost-a chance at a normal life. He actually felt good about it, like maybe they were starting to lay the foundation for something solid. A chance for both of them to make something real, a life that was built on the present instead of the past…or the future.

Looked like she was taking that chance, alright. She just wasn't taking it with him. He had no idea how in the hell he was supposed to live with that.

He wasn't going to figure it out tonight. Flicking off the overhead light, Carlos stretched out on the couch on the far wall of the break room. It smelled like cigarettes and leather and sweat and a thousand sleepless nights, and the familiarity of it lulled him into a light, restless sleep.

It seemed he'd no sooner dozed off than someone came barging through the door.

"Just got a 911 call from Piron. All hands on deck. You're not going to believe this."


	9. When Carlos Gets Shot Again

**Keira**

Dear god, no.

It had only been a matter of seconds, a minute, maybe, since Brad had disappeared from their hiding spot. Skulking around the edge of the square in the hope that he could signal the ground troops that were arriving and shut this disaster down before they got started. They hadn't been fast enough. Keira felt her blood freeze in her veins as the wailing sirens screamed down the road, three…no, five…ten sets of flashing lights responding. How in the hell had they gotten here so fast? Someone must have been on the phone the minute the portal opened.

Her mind scrambled, trying to think of the best way to minimize the disaster that was about to take place. Flicking her suit to invisibility, she headed for high ground as fast as her feet would carry her. It was the most likely place for the VPD to engage. If she could get herself between them and the droids, maybe the tech in her suit would help minimize the damage until Brad could neutralize the whole situation.

As cars screamed to the edge of the field, doors opened and voices started echoing through megaphones, her entire world narrowed down to one thing-one man, stepping out of his car, gun drawn. Carlos. Oh god. He was supposed to be taking some time off after that little escapade with Alec, not standing in the middle of a futuristic minefield. What the hell was he doing here?

Stupid question. Keira laughed at herself. Since when had Carlos Fonnegra ever stayed where it was safe? Didn't matter that technically, he didn't have the credentials to be calling the shots. With Dillon gone, he was the senior officer at the precinct-and the only one that was going to recognize that they were dealing with future tech rather than modern military warfare. There was no way he was going to let his team step into this kind of trouble without him.

Only now he was in the line of fire, and if she couldn't get him clear...

Damn it. The officers had attracted the attention of the droids. Shots were being fired. Keira broke into a run, cover forgotten.

She was too late. Halfway across the field, she saw one of the droids turn and fire, and Carlos went down.

**Carlos**

Son of a bitch. Flat on his back on the concrete, he could hear the panicked voices of his fellow officers talking into their microphones. Officer down…officer down…

God he hated those words.

His chest felt like it was on fire, breathing hurt like a bastard and his head was killing him where he'd hit the pavement. Could have been worse. He could have been dead. Should have been dead, judging from the look he'd gotten at the firepower those things were carrying.

Which meant they weren't shooting to kill, just make sure they stayed out of the way. Good news, as far as it went. The bad news was, these clearly weren't anything they'd seen before. Only three short years ago he'd have said it looked like a military op, but he knew better now. Their military didn't have anything like this. Not yet. This was future tech, and while he didn't know how or why he knew somehow this whole mess was related to Keira's new friend.

His brain was getting foggy from pain, but he pushed it back and struggled to his feet. Out of the corner of his eye he could see more shots being fired. Fortunately, the rest of his team had their eyes open, and had been able to take cover behind their vehicles. The things…he wasn't sure exactly _what_ they were…had them surrounded, cut off from backup or any further cover. They were keeping them pinned down, probably so the men he could see running behind them could get to wherever they were going.

'Damn it, Fonnegra, _think_.' He had to get his people clear, regroup and figure out what the hell they were going to do. Unfortunately, without any clue about what these people were, where-or rather, _when_-they were from, what they were after or what their capabilities were, he didn't have a whole lot of options. Keira would know, but she was still lying low at the cabin by the lake with lover boy. He was on his own.

Which was why he all but crawled out of his skin when Keira appeared out of the middle of freaking nowhere.


	10. Yeah, You Do That

**Carlos**

"Jesus!" Distracted, he didn't see the next shot coming at him until it was too late. Fortunately, it dissipated around the shield Keira had thrown up using that super suit of hers. Hopefully no one had noticed. Too late if they had. If he had to, he'd work on coming up with some kind of explanation tomorrow. For right now, he was just happy he hadn't been hit again. "Where did you come from? And what the hell is going on?"

"These are soldiers sent back from the future to destroy Matthew Kellogg," she said, pulling out her gun and taking position next to him. "We believe they're from the unit Brad belonged to when he was sent back-they came through some portal, following a signal he was given when he left. He's gone to try and make contact and try and stop this before it gets any worse."

"Right, because an army of machines from the future firing stun guns is a walk in the park." Rolling his eyes, he lined up and took another shot. "What exactly are we supposed to do in the meantime?"

Keira looked over at him, exasperation and fear on her face. Before she said anything, however, an eerie silence fell over them. All he could hear were the sounds of the shots being fired by his own men. Looking back, he realized that the machines had stopped firing at them. Turning, they got a running start, then launched themselves into the air. In another breath, they were out of sight.

For a minute his team just stared in silence. Then he heard the other officers on their coms, radioing in their position and reporting what had just happened. In a matter of minutes he heard the SWAT copters flying low overhead.

"Nothing more to do here until SWAT nails their location," he called over to the officer on his left. "Have a few teams canvas the area, talk to the residents. See if you can figure out what they saw." Pointless, he knew. Witness statements would trip all over themselves, and none of it would make any sense. How the hell could it? What they saw didn't even exist yet. There was only one person who knew what the hell was going on, and she was going to give him some answers. Now.

"C'mon Cameron." Wrapping his arm around her elbow, he walked her around the front of the car and held open the door to the passenger seat, adding softly, "You've got some explaining to do."

**Keira**

It seemed like only minutes before they were sitting across from each other at an all night breakfast restaurant. She'd assumed he was taking her back to the precinct, and had been surprised when he'd pulled into the well lit parking lot instead.

"What are we doing?" she'd asked, surprised when he came around and opened her door for her.

"Getting something to eat."

He hadn't spoken since, simply slid into one of the sticky, greasy seats and pulled a menu out from behind the salt and pepper shakers. She followed his lead, wincing when she saw him unconsciously reach up and rub his chest. If she lived another hundred years, she'd never forget the icy hand of fear that had gripped her watching her partner go down for the second time.

"How are you?" she asked softly, trying to push back the guilt. This wasn't her fault, damn it. She had no way of knowing what was going to happen when she and Brad had decided to send that signal. 'But you should have', a little voice in her head whispered. Since when had anything about this gone down easy? Every time something tampered with the timeline, all hell broke loose…and her partner wound up paying the price.

"I just got shot by a stun gun from some freakishly large piece of machinery that isn't even supposed to exist right now," he said without looking up from the menu. "I still don't know why I'm not dead. Damn it Keira, what were you _thinking_? Do you have any idea how many people could have died tonight?"

"Nothing was supposed to happen!" she hissed, leaning forward and looking around. "That signal was supposed to reach empty space-the changed timeline. We just wanted to prove to ourselves that we did it. That we'd changed the future Brad left. That way we'd know."

"Know what?"

"That what we did mattered." Frustrated, she leaned back, shoving the menu away from her and crossing her arms across her chest. "That we didn't leave our families behind for nothing."

"Yeah, well, didn't work out that way, did it?" Carlos still hadn't looked at her. Keira felt her heart sink. Was this it then? Was this going to be what broke them for the last time?

She knew her partner didn't like Brad. Didn't even blame him, really-since Brad had come into their lives, Carlos had been the one having to pick up the pieces of the destruction the two of them had left behind. They'd pulled him into Alec's abduction without any consideration for what it was going to do to his position on the force, just what it would mean for the timeline. Then, before the dust had even had time to settle, they'd sent out that stupid signal and nearly gotten his entire team killed.

In his place, she wouldn't want to talk to her right now either.

"Listen, it's not too late to walk away from this."

He snorted, looking up at her for the first time. "Right. Exactly how the hell am I supposed to do that? I've got every cop in the city out looking for those things, and not the first freaking clue what to tell them when they find them. What am I supposed to tell my team, Keira? Just put their guns away and let the great Agent Cameron and her freaky sidekick from the future handle it? Yeah, that won't land me in the looney bin." He rolled his eyes. "So what the hell am I supposed to tell them, huh? You tell me."

Keira frowned at him. "Carlos, I didn't ask for this, so stop taking it out on me."

"Would you prefer I take it out on your new partner?"

"No, I'd prefer you calm down so we can figure out how to handle this!"

The two of them glared at each other across the table. Keira saw a waitress start walking their way, then change her mind and do an abrupt about face. Great. They were scaring the locals. What the hell was wrong with Carlos? She wasn't surprised he was pissed. The man had been shot tonight, after all.

Damn it. Her partner had been shot tonight, and she was expecting him to be calm and rational about the whole thing. In his place, she wouldn't be very rational either.

"Forget it." Sliding out of the seat, she threw a couple of dollars down on the table to cover the coffee she'd ordered. "Clearly we're not going to get anywhere. You should go home and put some burn cream on your chest. It will help. I'm going to find Brad, see what the status is."

"Yeah, you do that." Slumping back in his seat, Carlos very deliberately didn't look at her when he repeated, "You do that."


	11. Goodbye?

_**A/N: I'm fast forwarding this in linear time because quite frankly, I don't feel like writing a huge battle scene and negotiations and the action that the show is well known for. I want to focus on Carlos and Keira. So I'm leaping to the end! If anyone wants to take the wheel and write what they think happened in between, feel free, and send me a PM with the link! **_

**Three Months Later**

**Keira**

"Are you ready?"

Brad's smile was shaky when he hiked the standard issue military pack on his shoulders a little higher. "As I'm going to be." He glanced over his shoulder. Keira followed his eyes, smiling when she saw her partner and Alec surrounded by a group of men in military fatigues that matched the ones Brad was currently wearing. They were laughing and horsing around, and even Alec, with his arm wrapped around Emily, seemed to be having a good time.

The group had thoughtfully given the two of them time to say their goodbyes, but Keira knew they were anxious to go. She understood the feeling. They had families to get back to. Wives and children at home waiting for them. They'd come here willingly, knowing that it might be a one way trip, their mission to eradicate the sequence of events that had started the ball rolling toward the future they knew.

Now the mission was over, and they had been successful beyond their wildest dreams. For the past three months, with Keira and Alec's help, the group had laid down a pattern of blackmail and sabotage that had toppled Kellogg from the head of Piron and put Alec back in…and somehow, with the Freelancers' help, they'd been able to do it without eliminating their own timeline completely.

Negotiations were over, and a path to success laid down for both Piron, which would continue to focus its efforts on weaponry, and SadTech, which would emerge as a separate bud of Piron and lay down its own footprint in the world of technology. Neither would follow the path to corporate domination that had doomed the timelines both she and Brad had left as long as Alec continued to sit at their head.

His brother Julian had been named as the company VP, with complete oversight. A member of Brad's team that had no family to go back to had offered to stay behind, and was working with Garza to act as Julian's advisors. There would be no mistakes-or if there were, at least they would be new ones. Keira really didn't want to think about that too hard.

Most importantly, for Brad anyway, with the power of Piron and the Freelancers behind them, they were going home. Back to a future where, according to Freelancer scouts, they lived in peace-and where Brad's wife and daughter were healthy and whole and waiting for him.

Brad had all but stopped breathing when they told him that, and while she knew he felt badly about what had happened between them she was the first to tell him to go.

"You're sure you don't want to come with us? We need good soldiers-protectors-in our timeline too."

It wasn't the first time he'd made the offer. She'd been putting him off for a week now, asking him for more time to think-although that request had been just a formality at first. When he'd first told her he had permission to take her home with them, the answer had seemed obvious. Of course she wanted to go. Even if things had crumbled between her and Brad-and she didn't want to think too hard about what _that _was going to be like-it was still her time. They'd compared notes on their futures, and while the socio-political climate was vastly different in his time, many other things were very much the same. And bless him, Brad's boss had already offered her a job and a place to live while she got herself acclimated. It would be as close as she'd ever come to going home.

Glancing again at Carlos and Alec, she couldn't help but sigh. Her bags were packed. She'd put her apartment keys in an envelope on the dash of her car that had Carlos's name on it and a note for her landlord inside, letting him know she'd been called to military duty and hadn't had time to return them herself.

It should have been an easy decision. It wasn't, and it was one she had struggled with even while she made arrangements to go. Now it was, as Carlos often told her, time to put up or shut up.

**Carlos**

"You're sure you don't want to come with us?"

He hadn't meant to eavesdrop. Ok, maybe he did. Just a little. More like their voices had carried, and he hadn't tried too hard not to listen in. Wasn't like he didn't have the rest of his freaking life riding on how that conversation turned out.

No pressure.

The last few months had been rough on his partner. She couldn't catch a break. He wasn't quite a big enough person to regret that Brad was getting the hell out of his city, but Carlos knew the fact that he was going back to his family while Keira was never going to see hers again was tearing her up.

He ought to know. It had been his brandy she'd gotten blind drunk on the night the bastard had told her he was leaving. He'd been the chump that had wrapped an arm around her and let her drink, then let her cry, then listened to her break his heart when she tearfully confessed that she'd seen Brad as her only chance to have anything resembling a normal life in this timeline-and that now, knowing he was married and he was going home to his _wife_, not only was she losing what she thought might be her second chance, she felt horrible and guilty about everything that had happened between them in the months between his arrival and now.

The logical part of his brain knew at the time, the man had thought his family was dead. Didn't matter. Carlos wished to god he could plant his fist in Brad's face for crossing the line with his partner in the first place. And now, in spite of everything that had happened, the man was handing her the only thing she'd really wanted since she showed up in his time. An all-expense paid trip back to the future.

He'd known it was coming. Brad had shown up on his doorstep one night last week. Said he wanted to talk about Keira. Carlos had reminded himself that in 10 days, the man was going to be out of his life. Hopefully forever. And his partner would probably take it personally if he rearranged Brad's pretty face for him. So he swallowed the rage that had been choking him since he found out Brad and Keira were…_involved_…and invited him in.

Too bad he didn't go with his first instinct. Brad had come to tell him that his squadron leader had authorized Keira to come back with them, and that Keira was waffling on whether or not she wanted to go. He'd laughed and said that Keira being Keira, he had a feeling she'd wait until the 11th hour. Knowing what had happened between them in the timeline she'd left, he wanted Carlos to have the chance to say his goodbyes.

It was a kick in the gut that Carlos still hadn't gotten over. He'd brought the subject up with Keira a couple of times since then, but she'd been reluctant to talk about it and he hadn't pushed. He'd rationalized it-she was fragile, and he didn't want her to feel like he was pressuring her to make a decision one way or the other.

His mistake, he realized now, pretending to listen to the off color jokes shooting around the circle of men while his ears strained to hear her answer. The truth was, he'd been afraid of what she was going to say. If they didn't talk about it, he could pretend that there was actually a chance she'd still be here, with him, when Brad and his crew took off.

What he should have done was pin her down for answer…and maybe, if he could stop being the nice guy, the good friend, for five freaking minutes, let her know that he was willing to make it worth her while to stick around.

But he'd been too chickenshit, too afraid of having his feelings shoved back in his face and losing the relationship he and Keira already had, and now everything was riding on whether or not his partner decided to stay.


	12. Moving On

**Carlos**

"Brad! We're heading out in five!"

His wandering mind was yanked back by the squadron commander's call. Suddenly the heavy clunking of droids moving into position echoed across the small clearing, and Carlos was surrounded by men and women slapping him on the shoulder and shaking his hand. Alec and Emily too. Looking into the eyes of the men he'd gotten to know in the past few months, Carlos realized he was glad things had worked out the way they did. The whole reason he'd become a cop in the first place was because he wanted to make a difference. Most of the time you went through your career tackling case after case, hoping but never knowing whether what you were doing left an impact on anyone's life.

It was really cool to see the members of Brad's platoon and realize that he had definitively played a part, no matter how small, in changing the entire future of their society for the better.

A zipping sound split the air, and men, women and machines started jogging through it.

"Carlos, Alec, thanks for everything." Carlos turned to see Brad standing there, hand held out to him, anticipation shining on his face. "None of this would have been possible without you guys. We won't forget it."

Carlos nodded, holding out his own hand for a quick shake, then shifted his gaze to look over Brad's shoulder when he turned to talk to Alec. Keira was still standing where Brad had left her, and she gave Carlos a trembling smile when he caught her eye. She hadn't moved, however, and hardly daring to hope, he walked over to her.

"Hey. You ready?" he asked softly. He wasn't entirely sure what he meant by that, but it seemed like the right thing to say. Keira shrugged, and a single, solitary tear traced down her cheek.

"As I'll ever be, I guess. It seems impossible that this is the end." She waved her hand toward the shrinking portal, which zipped shut when the last of Brad's platoon stepped through. "Liber8 is over, Kellogg is out of the game-at least for the moment-and Alec is finally where he belongs. Thanks to the Freelancers, we know what we did worked." Wiping away another tear, she wrapped her arms tightly around herself. "It's hard to believe that things are going to just…be normal."

"For a while anyway." Carlos hadn't heard Alec walk up behind him, but the boy-no, man, he really needed to stop thinking of Alec as a kid-walked past him and wrapped his arm around Keira's waist.

"You going to be okay?" he asked her softly. "I know Brad asked you to go with him." Giving her a lopsided grin, Alec squeezed her a little tighter. "I figured we'd be cleaning out your apartment this afternoon. Emily and I were already arguing over which one of us got to keep that crappy carpet in your dining room."

Keira laughed, hugging him back. "To be honest, I thought I'd be going too. All I've wanted since I got here was to go back home. But…" Smiling over at Carlos, she lifted a hand, and without a second thought he caught hers and squeezed. "Then I realized I already was."

**Keira**

In the end, it had been easy. Watching Brad walk away from her after she'd told him she was going to stay, Keira had expected pain. Regret. Instead, she felt light. Almost happy. For the first time since she'd been sucked through Alec's cursed time travel device at Liber8's execution, she finally felt like she was where she belonged.

"You ready to get out of here?" Alec asked, giving her waist a final squeeze before letting her go. "I'm starving, and Emily says that new Italian place on 3rd is to die for."

"Everything's homemade," Alec's girlfriend assured her with a grin. "You'll love it."

"Sounds good to me. Carlos?"

Realizing her hand was still hanging on to Carlos's she tried to pull it back, but he just squeezed a little tighter and refused to let go.

"Works for me," he said easily. "I have to swing by the station first and pick up some paperwork, mind if I meet you there?"

"Fine by me. Keira, you want to ride over with us and we'll drop you off back here on the way home?"

Keira bit her cheek to hide her laughter. It had taken some doing via some dubious legal channels, but they had managed to get Emily's record completely expunged and her name legally changed. She and Alec were almost unreasonably excited at the fact that she could go "home" without having to look over her shoulder. It was the 200th time in the last few weeks Alec had managed to drop the word "home" into the conversation.

"No, thanks. I'm not sure I could stand breathing the same air as you two lovebirds that long. It might be contagious," she teased, winking at Alec to let him know she was kidding. The truth was, she was happy for him. After everything he'd gone through, Alec deserved to be happy. And if she felt a small pinch in the general vicinity of her heart that Alec's relationship with Emily had worked out so well while her own with Brad had bombed so spectacularly, well, that was nobody's business but hers.

"Alright, we'll see you there." Hand in hand, the couple walked off. Carlos laughed.

"Seems funny to see him looking so laid back," he said dryly. "Seems like every time I've seen him in the last few years, we've been hopping from one crisis to another." Looking down at her, his smile faded, and he reached out with one hand to gently tuck her hair behind her ear. "You going to be okay?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I really am." Still smiling, she gently squeezed the hand she still held, enjoying the relaxed intimacy of the moment. "I've spent so much time since I got here trying to get home that I forgot something important."

"Oh?"

"Home is where the people who care about you are. Greg and Sam…they're gone," she said softly, wincing a little at the sharp, swift prick of pain. It was better than it had been though. "I don't think I'll ever be able to forget them, but I think…I think I'm finally starting to move on." It was, she admitted to herself, as though they had died-which, for her, they had. Or as good as.

It was her secret, the one she still hadn't told Carlos. When the Freelancers hopped forward in the timeline to guarantee the future of Brad's squad, they'd quietly done some checking for her as well-although the secretive bastards hadn't bothered to tell her anything about it until she confessed to Catherine that she was thinking about going back. Or forward as the case may be. Greg was alive, and working at SadTech, but he was married to someone else. Sam had never existed.

It was the last, she knew, that had sealed her decision to stay.

She herself was remembered fondly in Piron's manifesto, but Catherine hadn't told her more than that, saying that she would have to choose her future for herself. She was angry about it at the time, but now, Keira was glad. For the first time in years, her future was an open book.

"The people I care about-and who care about me-they're right here." Looking into her partner's eyes, she smiled at the almost unnoticeably release of the tension around them. He'd been worried, she realized.

"What about Brad?"

Keira wondered if Carlos knew his lip curled, just a little, when he said the other man's name. "I think…I think I liked the idea of Brad more than Brad himself," she confessed, shaking her head. "And I feel really, really bad about that. He was a great guy, and I hope he's happy, wherever he is. He sacrificed everything to come back here and change the future. He deserves to be happy."

"What about you?" Carlos stepped forward, tugging on her hand so she followed. The air was crisp, and Keira leaned against her partner as they crossed the clearing and headed back toward their cars.

"What about me?"

"You deserve to be happy too."

"I know. I do!" she insisted when Carlos looked at her skeptically. "I'm going to work on it."


	13. Halloween

**A/N: Ok, I took a few liberties with this one-I thought I remembered Carlos talking about siblings at one point, although I couldn't find the reference again when I went digging through the Continuum Wiki. So if I'm wrong, I apologize! **

**Keira**

"Keira, let's go!"

"Coming!" Critically, Keira eyed herself in the mirror. The gold spangles in her hair, heavy makeup and metallic skirt set looked ridiculous. She couldn't believe she'd let Emily talk her into going to this party, some Halloween event a friend of hers was hosting. Emily had insisted that it would be fun to go in costume.

Keira was beginning to suspect she shouldn't take advice on what constituted as "fun" from someone who thought it was still cool to pop a bubble and cover her face in chewing gum.

Too late to back out now. Sighing, Keira set the brush down and, after one last critical look at her reflection, turned and headed downstairs. At least Alec and Carlos were going to be there. She'd have someone to talk to…and make her excuses when she ducked out early.

"You look awesome!" Emily, dressed in an outfit similar to Keira's but with red rather than gold, grinned, reaching out to grab both of her hands with excitement. "I can't wait to show Alec. He and Carlos had a bet going, you know."

"Oh?" Keira raised an eyebrow, reaching into the tiny coat closet to pull out her red overcoat-which, coincidentally, covered the majority of her outfit. She wouldn't have to worry about someone thinking she was a hooker going down the street. She was more than capable of disillusioning anyone stupid enough to mistake her for a sex worker, but that had a tendency to get messy and they were already late.

"Yeah. Alec said you'd never do it. He figured you'd bail at the last minute and program your suit to look all Men In Black."

Keira laughed. "I thought about it. Then I figured you weren't going to give me any peace if I did." She paused, trying to decide how badly she wanted to know, then took the plunge. "What did Carlos say?"

"He said he wasn't going to bet against you, because you'd go through with it just to spite him."

"Well, he was right." Stepping outside and locking the door, Keira took a deep breath. The night was clear and cold-par for the course for Vancouver at the end of October. The faint smells of gasoline and pollution mixed with trash and the scents of people cooking that she was rapidly beginning to associate with this timeline.

Her city, the one she'd come from, had always smelled like the commercial filtration system SadTech had established to keep the air purified as the city's population continued to grow. It was undoubtedly healthier for her, but it was less…real.

A lot of things about her time had been less real, she realized as Emily fell into step beside her. Everything had been programmed or modified for convenience and conservation, and while there were some things she missed-her vaccinations were starting to wear down, and she'd gotten her first cold the week before-it was…nice.

"So, how are wedding plans coming along?" Keira asked when the silence started to drag. Emily, flushing, pulled out her hand to eye the diamond sitting on her third finger.

"It's driving me crazy. Alec's mom has her heart set on this big wedding. I kinda want to just hop on a plane and go to Vegas, you know?" Emily laughed shyly. "Poor Alec keeps getting stuck playing go-between. I think he's about ready to kill both of us."

"I'm sure whatever you decide, it's going to be lovely." Keira felt a quick pang in the region of her heart-her own wedding seemed like a million years ago.

As though reading her mind, Emily reached out and looped her arm through Keira's. "Alec told me you were married before you came here. What was your wedding like? If you don't mind me asking," she added hurriedly, as if she'd just realized that she might be stepping on sensitive ground. "If you don't want to talk about it, it's okay. I shouldn't have asked."

"No, it's okay." Keira laughed, letting her mind drift back. "It was beautiful. Small-I was already pregnant with Sam, and we didn't want to waste time or credits having a big wedding. It was just us, our immediate family and a couple of friends in the living room of Greg's apartment."

"See, that's what I'm talking about," Emily grumbled, squeezing Keira's arm. Keira laughed again. In spite of their age difference, it was nice to have a girl friend again. She'd been so wrapped up in her mission since she arrived that she hadn't taken the time to make friends outside of Alec and Carlos. Now that she was staying, that was something she'd have to rectify.

"This is it." Emily let go of her arm, catching her wrist and dragging her into a small warehouse just a few blocks from Keira's apartment. The smell of artificial smoke and popcorn and a few other substances Keira couldn't immediately identify wafted out at her the minute Emily opened the door. Squinting in the smoky room, Keira could make out shadowy dancers moving in time with the music while costumed waiters worked the crowd.

"Alec said he'd meet us by the DJ table," Emily shouted, cutting through the crowd. Keira followed along obligingly, amused. She'd been worried about being overly conspicuous in her costume. It was a far cry from the conservative colors she usually wore, and while the short skirt and high heels made her legs look a million miles long they were both revealing and uncomfortable.

She shouldn't have worried. Almost everyone there was in costume, many so outlandish that Keira herself was barely noticeable. Which was exactly how she liked it.

They were halfway across the dance floor before someone caught her hand and spun her around, bending down and pretending to take a bite out of her neck.

"I haf come to suck your blood," the costumed figure said in a deep, throaty voice with a terrible accent. Keira cracked up.

"You're going to 'haf' to work harder than that to get the drop on me."

Behind the white face paint, her partner's eyes gleamed while he flashed the fake fangs he'd found at a party store during a bust the week before. "Oh, c'mon. Not even a little scary?"

Keira rolled her eyes, but couldn't help the smile that stayed on her face. "If you want to sneak up on someone, you're going to have to wear a little less aftershave."

Frowning, Carlos sniffed the front of his shirt, then shrugged. "Ah well. I'm glad you're here. I think I'm the oldest person in this room by, like, a million years. And not just because I'm undead, either."

Looking around the room, Keira couldn't help but agree. It looked like just about everyone there was Alec and Emily's age or younger. "As long as no one expects me to be a chaperone, we'll be all right."

"Pretty sure we get to pass on being responsible adults for one night." Catching her hand, Carlos tugged her along with him, cutting through the crowd toward the DJ station where Emily and Alec were waiting for them. Bemused, Keira stared down at their joined hands. This had become a habit since Brad left, any time she and Carlos were off the clock. Never at work, or course, but just about everywhere else.

It had surprised her at first, but she had to admit, it was nice. His hands were nearly a full fingertip longer than hers, lightly calloused without being rough, and his grip was firm without being rough. It made her feel…protected. Connected, somehow. Which was silly, she supposed, but that didn't stop her from enjoying it.

**Carlos**

He'd been getting ready to make his excuses and leave when she showed up. The club-like atmosphere really wasn't his scene-he'd rather be curled up on the couch with a beer. But Alec had all but begged him to come, and when he'd found out Keira was coming he hadn't been able to resist.

Looking at her 80s rocker getup, a near-perfect match for Emily's, he was glad he didn't. Keira had told him they didn't really do Halloween in her time. The year before, she admitted she'd nearly pulled her weapon on a bunch of teenagers that showed up on her doorstep in costume to trick or treat. He'd laughed about that one for a week.

It was fun to see her in the Halloween spirit, and when the music cut down to something slow and he saw her eyes drift wistfully to the dance floor, he didn't think twice about changing course and pulling her out there.

"I didn't know you could dance," she said, surprised, when he caught her hand in his and began moving them in time with the beat.

"I can't," he said honestly, unable to hold back the self deprecating grin. "My brother was always the one that had all the moves. I can do a pretty good job faking it though, as long as we're not moving too fast."

"I didn't know you had a brother either. You're full of surprises tonight."

Carlos shrugged. "He moved back to Columbia when he was old enough, works in tourism. I only see him once every couple of years when he's back in the states on business."

"Ah. I'm sorry. You must miss him."

"Sometimes. Mostly I'm just glad he found something to do with his life that didn't involve setting things on fire or going to prison," Carlos said dryly, shaking his head as he remembered their younger years. "Seemed like he was always getting in one scrape or another, and dragging me along with him, although he always found his way back out."

"Sounds like it runs in the family." Keira was smiling at him now, and Carlos couldn't help but smile back. He probably shouldn't tell her the number of hours his sainted mother had spent praying for both their souls. Carlos was pretty sure she'd lit enough candles to light up a city block.

His mom would like Keira, he thought wistfully, tucking her a little closer as the song came to an end. Assuming things went the way he was hoping they would, he couldn't wait to introduce them. They were both brassy, independent women. Toss his sister into the room too, and a smart man would run like hell. On second thought, maybe he shouldn't be in such a hurry to take Keira home.

Neither one of them was smiling when the music flipped over a second later, filling the room with a loud, pounding base that made the floor shake under his feet.

"This is ridiculous," he heard Keira mutter, before stretching up on her tiptoes so her lips were brushing his ear. "How do you feel about getting out of here?"

"Best idea I've heard all week," he said gratefully. Looking around, he caught Alec's eye and waved toward the door, mouthing, 'We're out of here.' Alec started to pull away from the group he was talking to, but Carlos shook his head. No sense in making the kid miss out on the fun. Pointing to Emily, he waited for Alec to nod that yes, he'd take her home, and Emily to turn her head and wave goodbye before pulling Keira back through the crowd and out the back door.


	14. Your Place or Mine?

**Carlos**

Carlos dragged in a deep breath when they broke through the door, sighing in relief. "Thank you god."

Beside him, his partner laughed, tugging her hand out of his to begin pulling the shining hair extensions out of her hair. "Oh, come on. It wasn't that bad."

"Oh yeah? Then what are you doing here instead of hanging out inside?" Keira shrugged, a quick grin breaking across her face, and he nearly sighed at the now-familiar tug of longing. It hadn't even been two months since Brad left, he reminded himself grimly. Even though she'd chosen to stay, he knew she still had regrets. He wanted to give her time to get over everything that had happened before he started pushing her for anything more.

She was here, and not 70+ years in the future, and she seemed to have made peace with that. It was enough for now. Had to be. But it was getting damned hard to remember that when he had to work with her day in and day out, knowing that his patience might very well turn around and bite him in the ass if she found someone else to hook up with.

His partner was very pretty, very single and, now that she had officially decided to stay, very interested in settling in, which was both good news and bad from his point of view. She had made the news official when she accepted the new Chief Inspector's offer to come on as a full time consultant to the VPD. That little piece of news had the dual benefit of giving her an income through official law enforcement channels on top of what Piron and SadTech both paid her as a technology consultant (i.e. being allowed to pick her brain as well as study her suit and CMR), and letting every red blooded male on the police force know that she was going to be sticking around for the foreseeable future.

He'd done his best to tune out the words of the guys joking around in the locker room about who was going to be the first one to talk her into coming home with them, had had hard words with the idiots that didn't know he was standing behind them and decided to shoot off their mouth, but it wasn't getting any easier. He didn't want to start anything with Keira that was shrouded in secrets and regrets, which was why he was trying to wait until he was at least reasonably sure she was ready, but he was pretty sure the first guy he caught even _looking_ at his partner twice between now and then was going to find himself six feet under.

Thanks to that debacle with the "original Keira", he was damn good at hiding a body.

"Carlos? You okay?"

Keira's face was scrunched in a confused frown, and he realized that he must have missed something while he was woolgathering.

"Sorry, spaced out for a minute. What were you saying?"

"I asked where we were going."

Looking around, Carlos realized he had somehow bypassed the lot where he'd parked his car and wandered toward the water. He thought for a minute about taking a walk so he could drag out the relatively infrequent experience of having his partner all to himself without a major crisis looming in the wings, then took a look at Keira's skirt and shoes and thought better of it.

"Why don't we grab some pizza and head back to my place?"

**Keira**

Leave it to Carlos to think about food on a night like this. It had to be a man thing. Rolling her eyes, Keira reached down and pulled off the four inch high heels, moaning in relief when her stocking-clad feet hit the cold concrete. She wouldn't be able to feel her toes soon enough, but for right now she was just glad to have the uncomfortable monstrosities off.

"Swear to god, whoever designed women's shoes could give Hitler a run for his money," Carlos said, sounding amused. "You know, you're going to freeze like that."

"I know, but it feels better to freeze than to have those on for five more seconds."

"Why the hell did you wear those in the first place? Oh, wait, let me guess."

"Emily," they said in unison, then laughed.

Keira looked longingly over at the water, then accepted the inevitable. It was way too cold and she wasn't wearing nearly enough clothes to take that stroll by the water she was thinking of when they first came outside.

"You know what? Pizza sounds good."

"Fabulous." With a flourish of his cape, Carlos bent down and scooped her off her feet, grinning to show as much fang as possible when she tried to protest. "Just trying to save you a little hypothermia, that's all. I know what the ER looks like this close to Halloween, I don't want to get anywhere near it."

Keira tried to come up with a good argument, then gave up. No one was watching. She was tired, her feet hurt, and it felt good to let her partner carry her. Just for a little while. Tucking her discarded shoes against her stomach, she relaxed and leaned her head back against his chest, breathing in the smells of aftershave and shampoo that were uniquely Carlos. She shivered when the night air snuck up the back of the ridiculously short mini-skirt, and without saying a word or breaking stride somehow Carlos managed to get that ridiculous-yet-surprisingly-warm cape wrapped around them both.

Snuggled in, Keira felt her eyelids beginning to droop, but forced herself to stay awake. It was a short walk from where they were standing to Carlos's car. "Crap. I have to stop by the apartment." When he looked down at her, she smiled sheepishly. "I don't have any other clothes with me, and I really don't want to spend any more time in this get up than I have to. Unless you've got something I can borrow?" she asked hopefully, remembering almost against her will how nice it had felt to wake up wrapped in his clothes the last time she'd spent the night before Brad happened-and everything that went with it. "And maybe a spare bed to go with it?"

Carlos laughed, setting her down on her feet next to his passenger door. "I think we could make that happen. Although I'm going to have to start putting serious thought into charging rent for that guest room if you're going to keep sleeping over."

Keira flushed, slipping into her seat. Watching him close her door and walk around the front of the car, she had to admit it was true. Seemed like she'd spent more nights at his house than her own since Brad left, preferring Carlos's company and the reassuring sounds of him sleeping in the room next to her over her now empty apartment-especially when the nightmares came, as they still did, all too often. They'd gotten better-sometimes she even went 2-3 nights in between-but they were far from gone. Of course, that didn't mean Carlos liked having his house invaded as much as she liked invading it.

"You really don't have to entertain me you know," she said self-consciously when he hopped in the car. "I can go…"

"No!" he said quickly, tossing the car into gear and pulling out into traffic before glancing over at her, then reaching out to squeeze the hand she had resting in her lap. The deathly pallor from his makeup took his dark eyes from interesting to striking, and it warmed Keira to the core to see the easy affection in them-something that, not too long ago, she thought she'd lost forever. "No, it's nice to have the company, you know? Besides," he added, his smile slipping into a grin as his eyes turned back toward traffic but his hand continued squeezing hers. "With you around, life is never boring."

"Well, THAT much is true, anyway," she said dryly, leaning her head back against the back of her seat and closing her eyes, reflecting on the many, many, MANY times she and her other self had brought trouble to Carlos's doorstep. With the exception of the past two months, the poor man hadn't had a week of peace since he met her. It was a wonder he didn't just boot her straight out the door. Instead, she was in his car, heading to his house for pizza and laughter and beer before she went to sleep wrapped up in the comfort of knowing that Carlos was right next door if she needed him.


	15. All In

"You're kidding me."

"Oh god, I wish." Groaning, Carlos closed his eyes and laid his head on the back of the sofa. "When we found out who she was, I thought he was a dead man for sure."

Keira wrapped her arms around her sides, gasping for air around the stabbing pain in her ribs. She couldn't stop laughing long enough to get it. Because of the upheaval with Brad and the Droids, Keira hadn't been at the station the day the new Chief Inspector had arrived. Apparently no one had bother to tell any of the rest of the cops at the precinct that he was, in fact, a "she", a small Asian woman who was barely tall enough to see over the steering wheel but whose arrest record and take no prisoners attitude had her climbing the ranks in record time.

Unfortunately, the first thing she did when entering the building was spill coffee down the front of her shirt and suit jacket, and while she was standing around in her undershirt waiting for things to dry one of the other officers had mistaken her for a prostitute. She was in cuffs and being read her rights when the mayor came out.

Carlos said he was yelling so loud his eyes were bulging, and his face was so red they were afraid he was going to stroke. Keira had a feeling the unlucky officer wasn't going to live that one down any time soon.

"I'm sorry I missed it," she gasped, finally getting control of herself long enough to drag in a deep gulp of air. And then another. Still chuckling, she scooped her ice cream up off the coffee table, settling in contentedly when Carlos reached out and pulled her up against his shoulder, gently stroking his fingers through her hair.

"Yeah well, you could always get Alec to use that super tech of yours to recreate it," Carlos teased, his fingers brushing up against the side of her cheek. "Then you could find some way to digitize it, and we could put it up on the projector screen and watch it on replay."

"That's not nice. But," she added with a smirk, "it might be worth it."

Shutting her eyes and popping a spoonful of ice cream into her mouth, Keira moaned contentedly. Oh yeah, chocolate was definitely one of those things they did better in the 21st century. Letting the taste roll around her tongue, she enjoyed the smooth, creamy flavor that was miles away from the freeze dried treats she'd grown up on.

Just one more reason to be grateful she'd decided to stay.

She had a lot of reasons to be grateful she'd stayed, not the least of which was the man sitting next to her. The one that had loaned her his favorite sweats and gave her the last bit of his favorite ice cream when she admitted she'd never had it before and always, always listened when she had something to say.

Smiling at the reminder of the many things there were to appreciate about her partner, her eyes fluttered open to meet his-and Keira felt something inside her stomach flip over. She'd surprised him, and the look on his face before he quickly covered it up wasn't the easy going affection she was used to. It was raw, hot and hungry and longing in a way Keira had never seen before. In any century.

At least, not directed at her.

They stared at each other, freeze-framed, eyes locked, pulses pounding, and slowly the shields he had quickly slapped up slipped away again. Keira couldn't look away, frozen in place for what seemed like an eternity of anxiety and anticipation before Carlos leaned forward to touch his mouth to hers.

The kiss was soft at first, barely a whisper of a breath. Tentative and asking in a way she wouldn't have attributed to her partner, although when she thought about it-not that she could think-she couldn't imagine why she would expect anything else. Carlos was, first and foremost, a gentleman. He pulled back, just a little, his eyes searching her face for something. Whatever he was looking for he must have found, because he leaned back in, taking her lips with a tender assurance that had her breath catching in her lungs and her heart pounding a little faster.

Then his tongue slipped out to lick the last remnants of chocolate from her lower lip, and the world exploded.

Threading his hands into her hair, and pulling a good chunk of her ponytail loose in the process, Carlos tipped his head to the side and pulled her closer. Tenderness bloomed into something brighter, hotter, that had stars exploding behind her eyes and her heart beating furiously in her chest when he finally tipped his head and pressed his forehead to hers, breaking the kiss with a groan but staying close enough that the heat radiating off him through his soft tee shirt soaked straight into her skin. Keira felt the tremor that started in his body and traveled to the fingers still laced through the hair behind her ears.

"What, ummm…" Keira closed her eyes, clearing her throat and reaching out to set down her ice cream with shaking hands before knotting her fingers in his shirt. She squeezed tightly while her staggering brain tried to process the fact that Carlos, her friend, her _partner_, had just kissed her. No, not a kiss, she corrected. That was far too small a term for the spontaneous combustion that had just occurred, and it was almost impossible to make herself focus on words when the only thing she really wanted to do was tip her head back, yank him forward and let him do it again. "What was that?"

**Carlos**

"What was that?"

That was the million dollar question, wasn't it? He hadn't meant to kiss her. Holy god, he hadn't meant to kiss her. And he knew full damn well that once he let her go and stepped back from the flashfire that had just ravaged them both, he might lose everything.

But damn it, a man could only take so much. Sitting there on his couch, warm and soft in his sweats, with her hair in a casual ponytail and not a lick of makeup on her face, curling up against him while she ate his ice cream and laughed about their job…well. They could have been any couple unwinding after a party on a chilly autumn night, and everything had been so perfect, and so perfectly normal, that he couldn't help himself.

"I've been waiting a very long time to do that," he murmured softly. Slipping his hands out of her hair to frame her face, he tipped her chin up so he could see her eyes while he dumped his heart out at her feet and prayed. "I've been waiting a long time to do this too. I love you Keira."

Woah. Crap. Too fast, he realized as her eyes filled with tears that spilled over onto her cheeks. Much too fast.

"God, you don't do anything halfway, do you?" Keira's laugh was watery, tears still rolling down her cheeks-but it was the fear in her eyes that cut him to the core. Cursing, he slid his hands down her arms, lacing his fingers into hers and lifting her hands to his lips.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to just spill everything out there like that," he said earnestly, talking as quickly as he could before she decided to get up and walk away. "I know you've been through hell since you got here, and you might not be ready for any of this. I swear Keira, I'm not asking you for anything right now. Really," he added gently when she laughed again. "You matter to me. A lot. And I don't want to lose what we have now, and if that's all that's ever between us, that's okay. I don't want you to feel like I expect more than you're able to give, because I don't. Just…when you do decide you're ready…if you decide you're ready…I'm here. I'm right here. And I'm not going anywhere," he finished lamely, pressing her fingers against his lips and wishing he could think of something better to say but completely out of words.

"You matter to me too, Carlos. You're my _partner_," she said softly. "Until today, I hadn't…I mean…god, this is crazy. You know that right? This is absolutely insane." Brushing tears from her cheeks with the back of the hand he still held, she drew in a quivering breath, then fell silent.

Carlos waited patiently, recognizing the signs of his partner getting her thoughts together. He knew that look on her face meant she was wrestling through some issue, just like he knew she arched her eyebrow when she was scared and clicked the pen against the table when she was frustrated. He knew _her._

"I'm not very good with relationships," she finally said quietly, the words spilling out in a rush. "Greg and I…things were hard, at the end. There were some days I think Sam was the only reason we kept it together. He always complained that I worked too much, kept too many secrets, was too wrapped up in being a mother and a Protector to be a wife. He cheated on me, you know," she said, the words coming out with the casual air of someone trying to cover up a deep, seeping hurt. "While we were engaged. A last fling, I think. I didn't find out about it until she told me, much later."

"She?"

"The woman he slept with. A mutual friend." Keira shook her head. "We were out together. Her husband was hitting on me, and I was getting uncomfortable. I had pulled her into the bathroom to tell her, and she told me about Greg. Although I guess told me is the wrong word. She thought I already knew." She shrugged. "We got engaged the night I found out I was pregnant with Sam. I've often wondered since that night what would have happened if I hadn't been. Which is the long, roundabout way of saying I don't…I don't think I have what it takes to make a relationship work, Carlos. Greg and I were friends when we started, and at the end we were clinging at straws. If we…if we took this farther, I'm afraid I'd hurt you. And I couldn't live with myself if I ever saw you looking at me the way he did when he thought I couldn't see."

Personally, Carlos thought her husband was a fucking idiot that didn't deserve her anyway. He knew he had to be careful with her from here though-that the words he said now might make the difference between whether she stayed with him tonight or walked out the door.

"I promise, NOBODY knows how much you suck at letting people get close to you more than I do," he told her, smiling when he surprised the laugh he'd been hoping for. "You keep secrets, slam doors. Carry the weight of the fucking world on your shoulders. You won't let anybody help you until you have no choice-which, if you didn't already know, drives me absolutely fucking insane. I know you work a shitty job with shitty hours and shittier pay, because I work that same shitty job with the same shitty hours and the same shitty paycheck."

Letting go of one of her hands, he gently brushed her hair off of her shining cheeks. "I'll deal with it if you will. And if I was ever lucky enough to have kids with you, you'd be an amazing mother. I already know that. I'd be a real jerk not to appreciate that every…single…day. You get me?" She silently bobbed her head, looking at him with eyes that were still full of fear, coupled with something else. Something he sincerely hoped was going to make her give them a chance. "We're going to fight, and we're probably going to hurt each other. That's what happens when you have a relationship with someone-you step on each other's toes sometimes. We'll get through it, together, because that's what people who care about each other _do_."

"What if it doesn't work? What if we try this, and it doesn't work, and you end up hating me? I can't do that Carlos. I just can't."

Sighing, he leaned down and planted a firm kiss on her mouth. "I couldn't hate you if I tried-and believe me, for a while there, I tried pretty hard," he said dryly. "If it doesn't work, it doesn't work. We were friends and partners when we started, and I have to believe we'll be friends and partners if it ends. But to be honest, I don't think it's going to happen. I think if you give us a chance, a _real_ chance, we're going to be pretty awesome together. I love you, Keira. A few squabbles here and there isn't going to change that."

She looked at him quietly for a minute, eyes filled with tears and doubt, and Carlos felt his heart sink. Then she reached out, grabbed on to his shirt and dragged him toward her to plant her lips on his. This time he didn't hesitate before wrapping his arms around her back and pulling her against his chest so he could deepen the kiss, smiling against her lips when he felt her arms creep up around his neck. God she was tiny. How did he keep forgetting that? She squeaked in protest when he broke the kiss, then laughed when he pulled her onto his lap so he could kiss her without one of them getting a crick in their neck.

Oh yeah. That was going to work just fine.

She wasn't sure of them, not yet, but she was willing to give them a shot. He was willing to do whatever it took to make sure she didn't regret it.

He wasn't stupid enough to think it was going to be smooth sailing from here on out. Nothing was ever that easy with Keira Cameron. But she was here, and she was his. For now, it was enough.

_**A/N: PHEW! And that's the end **____** These two drained me dry on this chapter, but it was nice to be able to give Carlos a happy ending-or as close to it as he and Keira were going to get! Please stop by and leave a review to let me know what you think, and as always, thanks for reading! **_


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